The Colonel's Sister
by Earthling
Summary: Charlie wasn't the first child Jack lost...
1. Default Chapter

The Colonel's Sister  
  
This story and all themes and ideas contained in said story are the sole ownership of J.L. Scott. Any copyright infringements can be prosecuted in a court of law.  
  
To borrow a phrase: Stargate SG-1 no mine......no money, no sue, please? AN: I'm back with all new stories and an all new character! Hope you enjoy!  
  
Daniel sneezed. Jack handed him a tissue. He'd stuffed his pockets as soon as the MALP has sent the image of the planet back to them at the SGC.  
The Stargate was located in the middle of a large field, maybe a valley because he could see mountains in the distance, which was filled with brightly colored wild flowers. The sky overhead wasn't quite blue, but instead held a greenish tinge. Jack no longer found it unusual to look up at a green sky. They'd seen green, purple, red, you name it.  
There was a ring of loose forestry surrounding the valley or field or whatever it was, and that looked normal enough. There were no signs of life anywhere nearby, and Carter had reported that the MALP hadn't shown any life either.  
Daniel sneezed again.  
"I thought Fraiser gave you something for that" Jack asked as he handed Daniel yet another tissue. His friend pushed the glasses back up onto his nose and raised his eyebrows, as he often did before explaining something.  
"She did. It doesn't seem to be working" he answered, and sneezed again. Jack just shook his head and pulled his sunglasses over his eyes. Carter and Teal'c were already out in the grass, swinging their heads about looking for anything interesting, but there wasn't much to see.  
"All right, campers!" Jack called, hearing his voice echo just a little bit. Those mountains must be closer than they look.  
"Spread out. Keep in radio contact. Report anything interesting" Carter and Teal'c nodded and headed off toward the west.  
"Come on Spacemonkey" Jack said, heading off in the opposite direction, "Let's go see if we can find some rocks" Daniel resisted the urge to roll his eyes and followed after is friend.  
"So, I heard that Sam put in for some vacation time" Daniel said as they walked along, with every merciful step getting farther away from the wild flowers. The forest appeared to be deep, but the trees were spread out so that there was more than ample room for them to move about. They could've brought the MALP if they had wanted to.  
Jack sort of grunted and chuckled at the same time.  
"Her brother's having some kind of party" he told Daniel. He was keeping his eyes peeled for anything interesting, but so far it'd only been trees, some underbrush and a couple of little animals that looked like squirrels.  
"Is Jacob coming?" Daniel inquired, pushing a branch back from his face. These "routine" missions could sometimes be very....well, routine. Unless something odd happened. Which often times it did. It seemed, most especially to SG-1. It was as if Fate consciously pushed them into the missions with all the excitement and danger. That could be the SGC motto "Saving the World Once a Week: Whether It Needs It or Not". He wondered how that would look next to "Be All That You Can Be" and decided it still needed some work.  
"Don't know. Haven't heard anything about it" Jack answered. Another few silent moments passed.  
"Carter, you there?" Jack suddenly reached up to his comm., seemingly out of boredom.  
"Yes, sir" Sam's voice crackled back.  
"You find anything yet?" Jack asked, stopping to inspect the bark on a particularly tall tree.  
"Not yet sir. We were just about to..." Sam was interrupted by a loud cracking sound coming from above them. It sounded a lot like lightning, but the day was just as sunny as it had been when they'd arrived. Both Jack and Daniel looked up, but though the trees were set wide apart, they could still see nothing through the highest branches.  
"Carter?"  
"We're fine sir" Sam replied, "Did you see what it was?"  
"Nope" Jack answered, "All right, let's fall back to the Gate folks" He ordered and got a quick response from Carter before turning back the way they had just come. Both turned their heads up as soon as they cleared the trees.  
They fell to a crouch as something large and burning flew over their heads, gushes of hot, acrid wind following in its wake. Over on the other side of the valley (or field or whatever) where Carter and Teal'c were just emerging from the tree coverage, another, smaller, bit of burning something crashed into the forest.  
"Whoa" was all Jack said.  
"Sir!" Sam yelled over the comm., "Did you see that?"  
"See what?" Jack asked in his dry way.  
"The craft, sir" Carter replied, sounding as if she thought he might truly not have seen it.  
"You know we just missed it" Now Daniel rolled his eyes.  
"Could you tell what it was?" he asked himself.  
"The piece that flew over us appeared to be an escape pod" Teal'c answered. Now Jack's head perked up.  
"Goa'uld?" he asked.  
"I do not believe so" Teal'c replied.  
"All right, you and Carter take the escape pod. Daniel and I will try to go find the 'craft'" Jack ordered and each set took off for their respective assignments. Daniel realized this "routine" mission had just become one of the "not routine" ones. Though by now even the not routine had become routine.  
"So, who do you think it is?" he asked Jack as they hurried through the underbrush.  
"Don't know" Jack answered, "Haven't heard anything about the Tok'ra being out here, but it's not like they tell us anything"  
"I don't think it could be Asgard" Daniel commented, "They're still pretty busy fighting off the Replicators" A waft of poignant smelling air drifted over their noses.  
"Smell that?" Jack asked.  
"We must be getting close" Daniel replied. And indeed they were. A few minutes later it became harder to see with all the smoke and they could feel small creatures rushing by their feet trying to get away from the deadly destruction. They weren't choking on the heavy air though and so they pushed on right until they could feel the heat coming off the giant flames.  
"It's eating the forest!" Daniel yelled for the blaze was quite loud, "There's no way we'll get close enough to find anything!" Jack nodded beside him.  
"Let's get out of here!" And they all but ran away from the fire. As soon as they'd gotten far enough from the fire to be able to hear again, Jack contacted Carter and Teal'c.  
"Any luck?" Carter asked.  
"Nah, the fire's too big" Jack replied, "You?"  
"Teal'c was right, it was an escape pod" Carter reported, "It's a little scratched but that's it. There's a language on the side I don't recognize" Jack gave Daniel a look.  
"All right, we're on our way" he told her.  
It took them about forty five minutes to cross the valley and then find Carter and Teal'c in the unburnt part of the forest. The pod was a silvery color and about six feet in length, about four feet wide. There was a small plasma screen on the left side with odd looking writing on it.  
"Teal'c doesn't recognize the writing either" Carter reported as Jack and Daniel approached. Daniel went immediately to the side of the pod.  
"I think I do" he said, already excited from the possibility, "Jack I think this is the fourth language, from Ernest's planet" He looked up at his friend, delight twinkling in his eyes.  
"And you think that could be an alien?" Carter asked.  
"It's logical" Daniel answered and then turned his attention back to the little screen. Jack waited a moment.  
"Can you translate it?" he asked finally.  
"Uh, not here" Daniel replied, "I'll have to take it back to the SGC" Jack could see he had already figured out how to scroll down the page, or whatever, as the little symbols were changing and moving around.  
"Whoa, wait"  
"What?" Jack asked, looking back over at Daniel.  
"That was in English" Daniel muttered.  
"What?" Carter exclaimed and the other three team members crowded around the archeologist. He was scrolling back up the page and then stopped. He pointed at the small letters.  
"Right there. It's a name" he said, "Jennifer O'Neill"  
"It can't be" Jack said in an odd tone. Everybody looked at him.  
"Why not, sir?" Carter asked with a confused expression.  
"Jennifer O'Neill died on Earth in 1986" Jack explained without really explaining anything. Daniel had a bad feeling about this.  
"And how do you know that?" he asked. Jack had an odd expression on his face, half hidden behind his sunglasses. His lip twitched.  
"She was my sister" 


	2. Crash

The Colonel's Sister  
  
This story and all themes and ideas contained in said story are the sole ownership of J.L. Scott. Any copyright infringements can be prosecuted in a court of law.  
  
To borrow a phrase: Stargate SG-1 no mine......no money, no sue, please?  
  
"Do you mean to tell me this escape pod could contain the dead body of the Colonel's sister?" General Hammond asked bluntly. They were all seated around the briefing room table, including Janet.  
"I don't know why else her name would be there" Daniel answered, looking down at the table and pushing his glasses back up. They'd all been avoiding eye contact with Jack.  
"Colonel, I didn't even know you had a sister" the General said. Jack didn't answer, he just kept doodling on his note pad. The General gave Daniel a look and then turned his attention to Sam.  
"Major, do you think you can open it?" Sam shook her head.  
"I don't think so sir" she answered, "There aren't any other mechanisms on it except the screen-panel. Without Daniel's translations I wouldn't know what I was doing"  
"How soon can you translate it, Dr. Jackson?" Hammond asked. Daniel shrugged.  
"The only recordings of that language we have are the ones we got from P2-908, so there's not a lot for me to go on. I've been trying to contact the Asgard but so far, no luck"  
"Besides, sir, we can't be sure what's in the pod" Janet added, "It could be a virus for all we know. Maybe that's what killed the Colonel's sister" She gave him a quick glance to see if she'd upset him. He was still doodling, but looking more sullen than before.  
"Car accident" he said quietly. Nobody said anything for a moment. They all knew the Colonel didn't take deaths very easily, Daniel perhaps best of all. Hadn't he been suicidal the first time they'd met?  
"Point taken, Doctor" General Hammond said to break the silence, "Major, do you think it's safe to keep it here until Dr. Jackson can reach the Asgard?"  
"As far as I can tell" Carter nodded, "Yes, sir. It's not emitting anything except a small electrical energy signature and we haven't been able to detect anything dangerous inside. Although, I will admit I'm not sure if our instruments are getting through the hull"  
"Very well" Hammond nodded, "Dr. Jackson, keep trying to get a hold of the Asgard. Until then, I want the pod kept under surveillance. Dismissed" Jack pushed his chair back quickly and stalked out of the room. Everybody looked after him, but Daniel was the only one to follow. He found his friend in his own office, surprisingly, flicking little paper balls across his desk.  
"Jack" Daniel said as he entered without permission and took a seat on the one chair that didn't have a stack of papers piled on it.  
"Daniel" Jack replied, actually looking up at his visitor.  
"How are you feeling?" Daniel asked, eyebrows raised.  
"Well, Daniel, I just found out some aliens have the body of my sister who was supposed to have been buried in Minnesota for the past 18 years, how're you?"  
"Jack...." But he didn't know what to say so he just stopped. Jack went back to frowning and flicking little paper balls around on his desk. Daniel watched him for a few minutes, wondering if there was anything he could do or say to help right now. Jack was such a closed off person when it came to his deeper feelings that it would be a slight miracle if any of them even found out how old she'd been.  
"She was only 20" Daniel blinked. Jack was still staring at his desk, his mouth twisted in an ugly frown. He looked up at Daniel, who was looking back expectantly.  
"When she died. She would be about your age" Jack explained and then went back to looking at his desk.  
"You said she died in a car accident" Daniel prodded, "With your parents?" All Daniel knew about Jack's parents was that they'd both died in a car accident, and that he hadn't been particularly fond of his father. But Jack shook his head.  
"No. That was a couple years before. I had to go back home cause she wasn't quite eighteen yet. It was only for a few months, then she started college"  
"Were you close?" Daniel asked. Talking was supposed to help. Jack shrugged. He didn't like talking.  
"She was a lot younger than me" he said by way of reply. Daniel nodded. Jack was probably more like a father to her than a brother.  
"What happened?" he asked. He would weasel the story out of his friend, hoping it was the best thing he could do. Jack took a deep breath, still staring at his desk, but looking as if he were seeing something other than the flat metal surface.  
"I left on a mission. She was on her way back to school when a drunk semi driver crashed head on into her little Volkswagen" There was nothing for Daniel to say. No wonder Jack had taken Charlie's death so hard. It wasn't the first time he'd lost someone he was supposed to be have been protecting. At least, that was the way Daniel knew his friend saw it, rather than for being the absolutely appalling tragedy that it was.  
"Sirs?" a young voice said from the door. Jack actually looked up with Daniel. It was one of the ensigns that ran about the complex.  
"Sorry for interrupting" he said nervously, "You're needed in the lab." Jack and Daniel exchanged a look.  
"The pod is....humming" the ensign explained. In an instant Jack was on his feet and Daniel was hurrying to catch up with him. Janet, Sam and General Hammond were already in the lab, waiting for them. The pod was indeed humming, a low pitched sound, almost like that of a car engine.  
"Major, what's going on?" the General was asking. Sam was watching her computer screen and shaking her head.  
"I don't know sir" she answered, "The electrical energy signature has increased drastically. It's still not producing anything dangerous, but there is definitely something going on inside."  
"How long has it been doing this?" Daniel asked. Teal'c walked in behind him.  
"About half an hour. At first we didn't know what it was, and then as it started to get louder we realized it was coming from the pod" Janet replied.  
"Teal'c, do you have any ideas?" the General asked the Jaffa.  
"I do not" Teal'c answered simply.  
"What should I do, Major?" Hammond inquired. Sam again shook her head, deserting her screen and turning toward the pod.  
"I don't think there's anything we can do, sir" she told him. Daniel pushed his glasses farther up his nose as they all took up a waiting position. He could feel Jack tense up even more next to him. The humming continued to get louder for the next fifteen minutes, and then it seemed to level off. Occasionally Sam would turn around to check her computer readings, but she never had anything to report. Daniel's feet were just beginning to hurt and he was thinking about finding a chair when the humming suddenly died.  
"What's going on?" the General immediately demanded. Sam was typing away at the computer, shaking her head again.  
"The energy signature has died down to previous levels, General" she reported, "Our instruments still aren't getting through that plating"  
"Sir?" Janet's voice called their attention back to the pod. There was a slim crack from which a cold light was pouring. It reached nearly completely around the pod, right in the middle, and stopped six inches on either side of the screen-panel. Nobody said anything as the top half of the pod began to lift, like the lid of a box set on a hinge. A bright white light was pouring out, causing everyone to squint until the lid was completely lifted. A very cold white mist, much like dried ice, poured out and dispersed onto the floor. Nobody noticed it once they saw what was lying in the pod.  
It was a girl. She was nearly completely naked, with what looked like restraining strips over the vital areas. She had honey brown hair, like Jack's before he went salt and pepper, and looked to be about 20 years old. Everybody immediately knew who she must be. And yet they doubted because....  
She was shivering. Her eyes were still closed tightly, but her teeth were chattering and her hands were balled up into fists. She was shaking so hard the pod was shifting back and forth. They could all hear her short breaths being pulled in through her teeth, and yet no one moved, all fallen into a disbelieving trance.  
"She's alive" Daniel said very quietly, and the break in silence sent everyone into frantic motion.  
"Get some blankets in here!" Janet yelled, moving to the side of the pod to take the girl's pulse. Jack was pulling off his jacket and spreading it across her, going for modesty and heat at the same time. While the medical staff ran around, trying to prepare for a half frozen patient, the rest of SG-1 and General Hammond watched silently as Jack stroked his sister's face. 


	3. Wakey, Wakey

The Colonel's Sister  
  
This story and all themes and ideas contained in said story are the sole ownership of J.L. Scott. Any copyright infringements can be prosecuted in a court of law.  
  
To borrow a phrase: Stargate SG-1 no mine......no money, no sue, please?  
  
"How's she doing, Doctor?" the General asked as Janet walked into the briefing room. Jack was missing from the meeting, still down with Jennifer, whose name he had yet to so much as utter. In fact, he hadn't so far said a single word since his conversation with Daniel, yesterday.  
"She's recovering" Janet answered, "Slowly"  
"Any idea what that thing is, Major?"  
"Yes, sir" Sam was excited, though she was dampening it down in light of the circumstances, "Now that it's open I've had a chance to look over it. I think it's some kind of cryogenic freezing device"  
"That would explain the symptoms she's having" Janet said. It seemed that, until Jack was willing to do so, no one else would use his sister's name in conjunction with the patient.  
"I assume that who ever built that thing must have meant to have more sophisticated medical facilities ready to help her recover when they brought her back" she concluded.  
"But you'll be able to help her, right?" Daniel interjected, alarm in his voice.  
"Yes" Janet answered immediately, "It's just going to be a longer process than it probably would have been. She has a series of small scars along the right side of her body. They appear to be from wounds and some burns. There aren't any other abrasions. I'm working on the assumption that she sustained them in the car accident."  
"When do you think she'll wake up, Doctor?" Hammond asked.  
"Hard to say, sir" Janet answered, "To tell the truth I'm not exactly sure what's wrong with her. She's not suffering from hypothermia, dehydration, lack of nutrition or muscle deterioration. I assume it's just taking some time for her body to get used to working on it's own again"  
"So what? We just wait for her to wake up on her own?" Sam asked. Janet just shrugged.  
"Dr. Jackson, have you been able to contact the Asgard yet?" Hammond inquired.  
"Uh, no, not yet" Daniel answered, "I've been...leaving messages, hoping they'd get them." The General sighed, wishing he had something more conclusive to go on. Dr. Fraser had assured him that the girl was human, and there was no goa'uld sleeping coiled around her spinal chord, and neither Sam nor Teal'c could detect any traces of naquida in her. There was only one piece of information that he thought he could get an answer for.  
"Doctor, I'd like you to run a DNA test" he said. Fraser gave him an odd look.  
"Sir?" was all she said.  
"See if you can" Hammond stopped, trying to phrase it correctly, "confirm her identity" Recognition washed over the Doctor's face. She nodded and got up and left.  
A good while later, after night had long since descended outside, Jack still sat next to the unconscious girl in the Infirmary. He was clutching her hand in his, simply staring at her face. Her shivering had finally stopped, as had her teeth chattering, and she merely appeared to be sleeping now. Janet was keeping an eye on him too.  
"Sir, you should go get some sleep" she told him quietly. He didn't look at her, he didn't respond, he didn't move a muscle. Janet just sighed and took the girl's readings and walked away again. She was pretty exhausted herself, but she was wary of leaving the girl in her assistants' hands. Not that she didn't trust them, she just...wanted to be there.  
Another uneventful hour passed. Suddenly Sam appeared, her chest heaving a little more than it normally would've, and went straight to the Colonel.  
"Jack" He wouldn't look at her either, "Sir, Daniel made contact with the Asgard"  
  
Thor was just walking through the Stargate when they got to the gate room.  
"Dr. Jackson" Thor nodded, "Your message said there was a matter of great importance you needed to discuss"  
"Yes" Daniel answered, "Would you, come with us, please?" They led him to the lab in which the pod was still being studied.  
"We recovered this from a planet we recently visited. It was shot away from a ship, that burned up. I recognize this writing from P2-098, but I haven't been able to decipher it yet." Thor regarded him, expressionless. (Or so it seemed. He never could tell if they used facial expressions.)  
"There was a girl in it" Jack suddenly piped up. He sounded angry. "My sister, actually."  
"We were hoping you could tell us...something" Daniel interjected before Jack could say anything stupid. Thor took a second to examine the screen-panel and then turned back to the group standing around him. He had to strain his neck to look up at them, but none of them considered lowering to his height.  
"This language is that of the Ferlings" he said slowly.  
"One of the four great races" Hammond said.  
"That is correct, General" Thor answered, "We have not had contact with the Ferlings in many years."  
"Do you have any idea why they would have taken the Colonel's sister?" Sam asked.  
"Twenty years ago, they were in this sector of space. Though they were our allies, they were a somewhat secretive race. They did not like to share with the Asgard High Council"  
"So you have no idea what they were doing here?" Hammond asked incredulously. Thor tilted his head to the side a bit.  
"We believed they were working on a new weapon" Thor replied.  
"A weapon?" Sam repeated.  
"So what?" Jack exploded, "They kidnapped my sister to...what? Test it?" Thor regarded Jack silently for a moment.  
"The Ferlings' only enemy were the Goa'uld" he answered slowly, "I do not believe they would have harmed your sister"  
"We believe they've had her in cryogenic hibernation for nearly 18 years" Janet told him, "The pod opened on it's own, so I'm assuming that it did whatever it could to revive and help her. According to my instruments there's nothing wrong with her, but she still hasn't woken up and it's been two days." Thor turned his large head toward the Doctor.  
"I have no data of how human bodies react to cryogenic freezing" he told her, "However, she should recover at her own rate. There should not be any...." The phone interrupted him. Janet picked it up.  
"Fraser" She listened for a moment and then hung the phone up.  
"She waking up" she said. Everyone hurried out of the room, Hammond hanging back with Thor who didn't walk as fast as the rest of them.  
Jack was the first to her side. She wasn't awake just yet, but her breathing pattern had definitely changed, and she was rolling her head from side to side.  
"Jackie!" he said quietly. Daniel, Sam and Janet exchanged confused expressions. Wasn't her name Jennifer? The girl took a deep breath and her eye lids lifted just a bit. Her brow creased and then her eyes opened all the way. They could all see the surprise, and dismay, on her face when she saw Jack.  
"Dad?" she rasped.  
"No" Jack answered quietly, "It's me. Jack" The dismay disappeared but the confusion and surprise remained. She blinked a couple of times and then raised her hand to his face.  
"Jack?" she repeated quietly. Everybody sort of held their breath. She tilted her head to the side.  
"You look so old" 


	4. Thawed Popsicle

The Colonel's Sister This story and all themes and ideas contained in said story are the sole ownership of J.L. Scott. Any copyright infringements can be prosecuted in a court of law.  
  
To borrow a phrase: Stargate SG-1 no mine......no money, no sue, please? AN: Thanx for all the reviews! Hope you enjoy the next few installments!  
  
Neither Sam nor Janet could help smiling, just a bit. It was such a Jack thing to say.  
"Yeah, well, you've been frozen for the past 18 years" he said, a hint of humor in his own voice. Jennifer, or Jackie, whichever, flicked her eyes around and then returned her gaze to her brother.  
"Frozen?" she repeated.  
"Actually, cryogenically hibernating" Sam piped up. The girl's gaze whipped up.  
"Uh, Jackie, this is Major Samantha Carter. Daniel Jackson, Dr. Janet Fraser" Jack made the introductions.  
"Friends of yours?" Jackie, apparently, asked.  
"Yeah" Jack answered. She looked back at them, a mischievous look they all recognized in her eyes.  
"Sorry" she said. Sam and Daniel had to stifle their laughs.  
"So, you're telling me I've been a Popsicle for the past 18 years, huh?" She was taking this all remarkably well, which surprised everyone except Jack. She had never been daunted by anything. Well, almost anything.  
  
"So where am I?"  
"Oh, you're in Stargate Command" Sam said, and then realized the girl would have no idea what that meant. Most of the people on this planet who hadn't missed the last eighteen years wouldn't know what that meant.  
"A Stargate is..."  
"It's this big metal ring" Jack interrupted Daniel, "Makes wormholes. Takes you to other planets" Jackie rolled her eyes.  
"I know what a Stargate is, Jack" she said as if very annoyed. Then she stopped, biting her lip, "Um, how do I know what a Stargate is, Jack?" Jack, this time, was just as surprised as everybody else.  
  
"Carter?" Sam was shaking her head again, surprise clearly evident on her face.  
"I have no idea, sir" she said, "What's the last thing you remember?" Jackie's eyes unfocused while she thought about it.  
"Fire" she finally said, quietly, "No, I was in a car" Then understanding dawned on her for all to see.  
"I was on my way back to campus. I was in a car accident" Now she looked up at Jack, "How am I still alive?"  
"We...don't exactly know that ourselves" Daniel told her. Now fear entered her eyes.  
"Jack, what the hell is going on?" she asked. Jack didn't have an answer for her. A few minutes of silence passed before General Hammond showed up with Thor. Daniel saw her gaze flick and hold on the Asgard.  
"Uh, he's a friend" he said quickly, though she didn't appear frightened, "He's a member of a race called the..."  
"Asgard" Jackie finished for him, looking up at him, "Friend" Thor looked at the girl with a tilted head. Jack would have called it a confused look, but who could tell? She turned her head toward Teal'c now, who she had not previously seen.  
"Jaffa" she said, as a child naming familiar objects for practice, "Foe. Actually, more just of a 'bad', than foe really" Everybody looked at her with amazed expressions. Except, again, Jack. He had come not to be surprised by anything his sister ever did. Even if he hadn't seen her in eighteen years.  
"Actually, he's a friend" Sam said. Jackie looked to her brother for confirmation. He nodded slightly.  
"His name's Teal'c" he told her, "He's a good guy."  
"Sweet. Nice ta meet ch'ya" she nodded at him. She was becoming more animated by the minute. Teal'c simply nodded back at her.  
"What else do you know?" the General demanded, rather harshly Jack thought. But perhaps he was biased. Jackie shot a look up at her brother before answering. He gave her a quick nod.  
"I don't know" she answered seriously, "I didn't even know I knew that stuff until you came in and I saw him" Janet and Sam exchanged a look.  
"What do you know of the Goa'uld?" Hammond asked next. Jackie's brow creased. Then her entire face scrunched up as if she were in pain.  
"Jackie" Jack said, worry coloring his voice.  
"A lot" she finally said, "I know a lot. Names with faces, mostly. I know I don't like them...." Her voice trailed off as if there were more she wanted to say, but she shook her head.  
"There's more, but I can't bring it to mind just now" She unscrewed her face and looked up at her brother. He could now see concern in her eyes that hadn't been there just a moment ago. She took a ragged breath and let it out again. Jack squeezed her hand under the covers and was reassured when she squeezed back with all of her old strength.  
The General turned to Carter and Janet.  
"And neither of you have any idea what may have happened?" he asked. They both shook their heads.  
"And what about you, Asgard-friend?" Jackie inquired, "Got any idea why I was a Popsicle for 20 years?"  
"I do not" Thor replied, in his usual stately manner.  
"Great. So now what?" Everybody regarded the siblings for a moment, as they had just said the exact same thing at the exact same time. They exchanged a look and then looked back at the rest of the group, amused expressions on their faces.  
"I don't know" General Hammond answered finally. The question that was running through his mind was whether or not he should keep her on the base, or let her go home with Jack. There was, of course, no better person to look after her, but what if something should happen and they needed the SGC's facilities?  
"It may take time for her brain to acquaint itself with this new knowledge" Thor commented.  
"You think we should just let her get on with her life and see what pops up?" Carter asked. Thor didn't reply immediately, probably trying to decipher the syntax, but eventually nodded his overly large gray head.  
"Yes"  
"Doctor?" The General turned to Fraser, "Do you have any objections?" Janet shook her head.  
"Physically, she's perfectly fine, sir"  
"All right. Then I'll release you into you're brother's care, Ms. O'Neill" he said formally. They all waited for her to say something.  
"Goody"  
  
Later that night...  
  
Jack opened the door to his dark house and stepped through. Jackie followed him in. He reached over and flicked the lights on and dumped his bag on the floor.  
"So, this is home, huh?" Jackie said behind him.  
"Yep" he answered, and continued on toward the kitchen, flicking more lights on. He hadn't been home in about a week, the place probably needed dusting, and definitely needed an airing out. Jackie followed him slowly, looking around and taking everything in. She stopped at a side table and picked up a picture frame.  
"Who's this?" she asked, turning the frame so Jack could see the photo. His heart caught and he took a breath.  
"That's my son, Charlie" he answered quietly, forgetting about the lights and joining his sister. God. His sister. She'd been dead for nearly 20 years, and now she was standing there, right in front of him. They hadn't parted on the best of terms. He'd finally managed to put the guilt and pain away about ten years after her death. It had all come crashing back down on him when Charlie died. Back at the SGC he'd had conflicted feelings about her, but in front of everyone else he was happy to have her back. Now that they were alone, it felt awkward. He wasn't so sure he was happy to have her back. Not that he wasn't happy she was alive. It was just going to be hard. Painful.  
"You have a son?" she asked, sounding surprised, but in a happy way, he thought. She would've made a good Aunt. She would've made a good mother. These were all things he'd thought about when she'd died. Then, he'd known she'd never get a chance to do any of those things. And now he'd been proven wrong. She might still get the chance. Might.  
"He died" Jack told her, not able to bring himself to tell her how just yet. That could come later. Much later, hopefully.  
"Oh" was all she said as she set the frame back on the table softly. She looked down at her feet, encased in a pair of Janet's shoes (Sam's didn't fit) and let out a heavy sigh. When she looked back up she had a tear in her eye. She so rarely cried, that Jack remembered about her. When Daniel had first said her name, back on the planet, he was appalled to realize that he couldn't call up the image of her face anymore. He couldn't remember the way her voice had sounded, what color her eyes were. He couldn't remember who she'd gone to prom with, what car she'd traded in for that Volkswagen , what her best friend's name had been, what her high school colors were. He'd been amazed at how much he'd forgotten. And then when that pod had opened and he'd seen her lying there, freezing and naked, the subject of some arrogant race's experiments in God-knew-what, and he'd seen her face again, and the color of her hair, and he'd felt so guilty. So guilty that he still couldn't remember what color her eyes were. So guilty...about everything.  
And now, she had a tear in her eye, and Jack knew she wouldn't let it fall. That he remembered.  
"I have a lot to catch up on, don't I?" she whispered. Jack swallowed.  
"Yeah"  
"God, Jack..." Her jaw trembled and he pulled her into his arms. He hadn't hugged her in so long!  
"I know" was all he could say, and he did.  
"I know" 


	5. Jackie In A Box

The Colonel's Sister  
  
This story and all themes and ideas contained in said story are the sole ownership of J.L. Scott. Any copyright infringements can be prosecuted in a court of law.  
  
To borrow a phrase: Stargate SG-1 no mine......no money, no sue, please?  
  
"Good morning, Ms. O'Neill" General Hammond greeted the young girl (who wasn't really all that young) as he joined the meeting in the Briefing room a couple of days later.  
"Call me Jackie" she said, flipping her hand at him.  
"Is your name not Jennifer?" Teal'c asked from across the table. He had sought out Daniel in order to ask about that, but Daniel had had no answer for him. Jackie tilted her head to the side, a very Jack gesture, and simply looked.  
"Why yes it is, Teal'c" she answered, and then her countenance changed. She was sometimes very Jack like, and other times a completely different person all together.  
"Everybody's always called me Jackie, ever since I was born" she explained.  
"They thought it was cute" Jack rolled his eyes. She followed suit.  
"Yeah. Like the Kennedy's, you know? Jack and Jackie?" Her eyes met Jack's and they both rolled them again. It was apparently an old grievance.  
  
"Ms. O'Neill" Hammond repeated the formal address, ignoring Jackie's request, "Have you remembered anything that may be of help?"  
"Nope" she answered simply.  
"I was thinking maybe she should read some of our mission reports, sir" Daniel piped up.  
"What for, Doctor?" Hammond asked.  
"Well, I thought it might help stimulate some of those memories. If nothing else, it should at least give us an idea about the extent of her subconscious knowledge" Daniel told him.  
"Actually, that's not a bad idea, sir" Sam added. Hammond nodded.  
"All right"  
"Great" Jackie muttered, "More homework" Sam and Hammond both stifled smiles. Everybody seemed to be doing that a lot lately.  
"What else do we have?" the General inquired, diverting their attention.  
"Well, sir, we've basically just been bringing her up to date" Janet reported.  
"You know, the highlights. Computers, presidents" Jack smiled wickedly, "Simpsons"  
"All right" Hammond repeated, "I suppose there's nothing more we can do. Ms. O'Neill, I'd like you to continue your studies with Doctor Jackson and Major Carter, here on the base" Jackie saluted him.  
"Dismissed"  
  
Hours later....  
  
Sam walked into Daniel's office. It was late, but that wasn't unusual. Jackie was sitting at a desk, papers and books laid out before her. Her honey colored hair was pulled back in a pony tail. Jack had taken her shopping yesterday, but they hadn't been out for long. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt over combat boots.  
"How's it going?" Sam asked, leaning against the desk and scanning over what Daniel had given her. She couldn't imagine trying to take in the breadth of information that Jackie had to absorb. The girl looked up with a tired expression on her face.  
"Is it recess time yet?" she asked with a small smile. Sam smiled back. She could sympathize. She remembered college.  
"I've been trying to give her a wide range of information" Daniel told his friend, sipping at his mug of coffee.  
"And I thought history was boring" Jackie groaned, "The Future's even worse!" Sam smiled. It was amazing how like Jack she was, in so many ways. She looked at Daniel. He was thinking the same thing.  
Just then Jack himself walked in.  
"Good evening, campers" he greeted them all. Teal'c came in with him.  
  
"Goin' home, Carter?" he nodded at his 2IC.  
"Yes, sir" she answered, "Actually, Teal'c, Daniel and I were going to go out for some dinner. You guys wanna come?"  
"Uh, actually, we've got some plans" Jack replied. That sounded somewhat foreboding to his team, but nobody commented.  
"Okay" Carter finally said, "Well, we'll see ya tomorrow then"  
"Yeah. Come on, Jackie" The girl stood and stretched, saluted the remaining part of SG-1, and followed her brother out the door.  
"Wonder what that was all about" Carter commented after they'd both gone. No one answered.  
  
Jack flipped the lid off the cardboard box. Dust lifted up into the air and made him twitch his nose. The tape that had held the lid on was crumbling away and was easy to break. This box had been stuffed away in the garage for nearly 18 years now. The objects inside had a bit of dust gathered on them, but were in other ways just as he remembered them.  
"This was all I kept" he told Jackie. It had been all he could bare to keep. She nodded her understanding and waited for him to start pulling things out. On top was a stuffed elephant, rather ragged now, with a big red bow around his neck. It was the gift he'd given his mother when Jackie had been born. She slept with it until she was almost thirteen.  
"Hey, I remember you" she said softly, running a hand over the soft fibers that made up it's fur. There wasn't much in the box, now that he looked. He could remember at the time thinking the less he had, the better, but now he wasn't so sure. He wished he had more to remember her by. He pulled a sweater out and handed it to her, a couple little trinkets, a jewelry box that played some unnamable tune and still contained her first set of earrings. Jackie held each object in both hands, smiling as she remembered her early childhood. It hadn't been great, and he wondered what she found to smile about. But that was another thing he remembered about his sister; she always found something to smile about.  
At the bottom of the box were some pictures, scattered loosely without protection. Many of them were dog-eared, and the backs were all yellowed with age. He looked at each one before handing it to his sister. Some of them he remembered, barely. Most of them were events he hadn't been there for, birthdays, Christmasses, and a couple with young people he didn't even recognize, friends most likely. He didn't remember her having many friends, but she must have had some. And then he pulled the last two out and had to smile himself.  
"Hey, remember this?" he handed the photo over. Jackie's smile grew a bit as she nodded. The first was a photo of the two of them, standing on some beach, soaked from swimming, with ice cream smeared across their faces. They were both laughing. The second was taken a bit earlier in the day, just the two of them, sitting side by side, smiling like there was no pain in the world.  
"That was a good day" Jackie said softly, and her smile faded away, "We didn't have too many of those after Mom and Dad died" Jack felt his chest tighten just a bit. He was used to the feeling. Before his parents had died, Jack had at least always made sure he was there for her when he could be. After, he'd pretty much just left her on her own.  
"I'm sorry about that" he admitted. She shrugged, though he could tell it was still upsetting for her. After all, to her, it'd only been a few days since they'd fought and he'd left.  
"You were gone a lot" she said quietly, not accusing him, just stating a fact.  
"I should've been there more" he told her, "You don't know how much I've regretted not being there every day for the last 18 years" She nodded to herself, starring down at the photo still clutched in her hand.  
"I missed you" she admitted. Did he hear a tear in her voice?  
"I know" he said, "I missed you too" And again he drew her close and just held her, as he should've done so many years ago.  
  
Jackie was sound asleep in her bed. But she didn't know it. Her overloaded mind was throwing images at her, quickly and harshly so that she could barely make any of them out. But she knew they were important. She had to grab hold of them, make them stay. She had to...do something. Faces, colors, objects all swirled by her in a whirlwind. And then a voice, hard to hear through all the visual stimulation, told her what she'd been searching for....  
  
"Jack! Jack!"  
Jack opened his eyes, shaken out of sleep by Jackie's strong hands and demanding voice.  
"Jackie?" There was a wild look in her eyes. It made him sit up.  
"We have to go back to that planet" she said, "We have to go back to that ship!" 


	6. Kar'che ka'sa

The Colonel's Sister  
  
This story and all themes and ideas contained in said story are the sole ownership of J.L. Scott. Any copyright infringements can be prosecuted in a court of law.  
  
To borrow a phrase: Stargate SG-1 no mine......no money, no sue, please?  
  
"Jaaaaaaack!" Jackie whined as Jack pulled a carton of milk out of the fridge and poured himself a glass, standing in his boxer shorts and a t- shirt. He had not jumped out of bed and taken her immediately to the SGC as she'd hoped, but instead had insisted on...well, being himself.  
"What?" he demanded back, somewhat aggravated with his younger sister's abrupt interruption of his sleep.  
"I have to go back to that planet!" she told him again, desperately trying to make him understand her need, "I have to get to the ship!" Jack swallowed his milk and set the glass down.  
"We didn't find you on a ship" he said.  
"I know that" Jackie was getting more frustrated, "The escape pod was jettisoned away from the ship when it crashed on the planet!"  
"How did you know that?" Jack asked. She may be his sister, and he may have found her on an alien planet, but she was still a civilian without clearance and she hadn't been told all the details.  
"Jaaaaaaack! We have to go NOW!"  
"Why?" That stopped her. She thought about it.  
"I don't know!" she answered finally, "I just know we have to go!"  
"Jackie!"  
"Jack!" The Colonel stared at his sister, thinking she was crazy, but knowing, in this universe, he should probably do what she said.  
"Fine" he waved his hand toward the door, "Let's go"  
The General was not so pleased at being woken in the middle of the night, but at least he was on the base, and not at home. He appeared in the briefing room completely dressed and ready to go. Carter and Daniel had, apparently, returned to the base to do some more work after they'd gone to dinner, and Teal'c, of course, was always there.  
"What's so important, Colonel?" Hammond demanded as he took his seat.  
  
"I have to go back to the planet. To the ship" Jackie told him quickly. Jack waved a hand at her wordlessly.  
"What for?" Sam asked, concern lining her eyes.  
"I...I don't know" Jackie admitted.  
"Colonel, what is this?"  
"General, look!" Jackie erupted before Jack could reply, "I know this sounds crazy, and believe me I don't exactly understand, I just know that I have to get to that ship before the Goa'uld!" Now she had peaked Hammond's interest.  
"What does this have to do with the Goa'uld?" he asked. Jackie looked at Jack, and then Sam.  
"I don't know" she replied again, "I do know that if I don't get there before them that it's bad. Very very bad."  
"Colonel do you know anything about this?" Jack lifted his fingers and let them fall again.  
"I'm sorry, Ms. O'Neill, I just don't have incentive enough to send an SG team out there for some unknown reason" Hammond answered. Jackie squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed at her temples.  
"Kar'che ka'sa!" she shouted. There was a pregnant silence as everyone stared at her, especially Daniel. She looked up slowly, aware that she'd just done something more to cause everyone concern, including herself.  
"I didn't mean to say that" she told them, "What did I say?"  
"You don't know?" Daniel asked her.  
"Well...I sort of do. I mean...I know what it means, but I don't think it has an English translation" she told him, confusion clouding her face, "Maybe, 'For cryin' out loud'?"  
"Daniel?" Jack looked to his friend for some kind of explanation. He knew what it felt like to have an alien language stuck in your head, with no control over it.  
"Uh, I don't know" He searched around for a remote to the screen. He pressed a couple of buttons and the image of the writing from the screen- panel on the escape pod appeared.  
"Can you translate this?" he asked.  
"Here is the Savior of the Worlds of Good. She shall be the Protector. Taken from the planet of the People Whom the Ancients favor. Blood of Warrior Blood, saved from death to serve, so was she, Jennifer O'Neill, chosen." She read it off quickly and precisely, leaving Daniel scribbling quickly on his notepad and the rest of those gathered gaping.  
"How is it that you come to know this language?" Teal'c asked.  
"That's a good question" the General said.  
"I don't know" Jackie told them, "I just looked at it and knew what it said"  
"Well, I mean, do you know the whole language?" Daniel inquired.  
"I think so."  
"Say something" Daniel was very excited. But then, that was the kind of thing he got excited about. He watched Jackie anxiously while she stared blankly at the table.  
"I can't" she finally admitted, "I can't bring it to my conscious mind. When I look at that writing, I know what it says. But I can't...come up with it on my own, you know?"  
"It seems that more than just general knowledge was put in your mind" Sam said, "Sir, under the circumstance, perhaps we should go back to that planet."  
"I don't see why, Major" Hammond replied.  
"Sir, the message said she was the 'Savior', the 'Protector'" Sam explained, "Couldn't it be that there is something on that ship that she needs to protect. I mean, why else would she have all of this knowledge. Able to read this language"  
"That's true, sir" Jack added, half heartedly. He didn't like the sound of this "Savior" thing. Hammond looked back and forth between the members of the team that he most trusted on this base. He valued their judgment more than anyone else's.  
"All right. You can go back to the planet, search for whatever it is Ms. O'Neill may supposed to be protecting" he said.  
"Thank you" Jackie said with a stern, sincere look. Gone was the hysteria of her previous desperateness.  
It was still the middle of the night. Daniel and Carter hadn't gotten any sleep as of yet, and Jack wasn't about to push them into a potentially dangerous situation with nearly 24 hours of wake time since their last sleep time. He ordered them to bed, at least for a few hours. He tried to order Jackie to bed too, but she wouldn't go. She just paced at the end of his bed while he slept. 


	7. Found it!

The Colonel's Sister This story and all themes and ideas contained in said story are the sole ownership of J.L. Scott. Any copyright infringements can be prosecuted in a court of law.  
  
To borrow a phrase: Stargate SG-1 no mine......no money, no sue, please? AN: I couldn't get this to format correctly! Erg, but sorry!  
  
Daniel sneezed. Jackie handed him a tissue, silently. Her gaze was fixed on the forest. Half of it had been burned into smoldering ashes, still smoking. The ground in front of the Gate was muddy, so a heavy downpour must've been the fire's end. It was stopped before it could eat everything in sight.  
"The ship crashed in that direction" Sam nodded toward the east. They headed off as a group, silently, most of them still skeptical about their entire reason for being there. Actually, though Daniel and Sam had supported the trip, Jackie remained the only person completely positive that they weren't wasting their time.  
They passed through a charcoal forest. Everything was blackened and crumbling to pieces. The smell was horrible, incorporating not only foliage and underbrush, but also the remains of small animals. Daniel cleared his throat, trying to rid himself of the accompanying taste, but it did little good. Jackie was in front of them all, staring straight ahead, almost without blinking, and quickening with every step her race toward whatever may be left of the ship that she had, supposedly, spent the last eighteen years on. Jack was wary of her alien implanted determination. Who knew what those Ferlings put in her head, or why? For all he knew, she could be leading them into a trap. Which is why he was slightly surprised when she came up short in front of a huge clearing, just as black and smelly and smoky as the rest of the forest, but with the infrastructure of what even he could tell had once been a space faring vehicle occupying most of the space. "The fire couldn't have done this" Sam reported, looking over, from just behind her CO, the remains of the great ship. "The crash?" Daniel asked. "I don't think so" Sam replied, "I don't know what could've..." "It destroyed itself" Jackie interrupted, still staring at the heap of melded metal. "How did you determine this?" Teal'c asked. Everybody was interested in that answer. "It was programmed to" Jackie answered. She was still staring. Sam gave Jack a look. "All right, this is getting spooky" he said, "Jackie, what are we doing here?" She blinked and looked back at him. "Looking for something" she answered in a very Jack like manner, and then turned back. "Well, I don't think much could have survived this" Sam told them. "Whatever it is, it's going to be hard to find" Daniel added, though he wasn't too distressed about it. He was, after all, used to digging around, looking for small objects in the dirt. "It's over there" Jackie said calmly, raising her arm and pointing toward the far side of the vessel, "It was in that part of the ship" "All right campers, into the rabbit hole" Jack gestured toward the section of the ship his sister had indicated. They all picked carefully over the wreckage, watching out for still bubbling patches of metal, shafts of snapped structure beams and the small pits of fire that were still burning themselves out. Jackie marked out an area about 12 feet by 12 feet for them to look over. They all bent to the work, but there wasn't much to see. Carter surmised that the ship had used a small explosion to destroy itself, and then the fire had done the rest of the work, melting much of the metal together. "The odd thing is, sir," she told him, "I don't know of any metal that would be strong enough to survive in space, but weak enough to be melted by a forest fire" Jack looked over to his sister, who, with Teal'c, was turning over a large metal hunk. "Oh, Jackie?" Jackie looked up. "Huh?" "Care to explain?" The Colonel asked. Jackie paused. "No" she answered and went back to her work. "Jackie!" "Huh?" Jack just gave her one of his looks, one with which she was familiar enough with. She rolled her eyes, dusted off her hands, and joined them. "What?" "I'm trying to figure out what material this ship was made from" Sam told her. "Oh" Jackie replied, "Let me know if you figure it out" She turned to go. "Jackie" Sam was noticing how many different ways he could say that one word. "I don't know, Jack" she sighed in exasperation, "I can't just call up information when I want it. It only comes to me as needed." "But it sticks after you remember it, right?" Sam asked. Jackie nodded. "So, how did you know where to look for...whatever it is we're looking for?"  
  
"I seem to have the entire floor plans stuck in my head" she answered, "It makes sense if you think about it. I knew where...the thing...was, but I would have to know where that area of the ship was located in relation to the rest of the ship to figure out where that section was, wouldn't I? I'm not quite sure what I used to determine the orientation of the ship, but who cares as long as we don't have to search this entire area, right?" She looked at Jack for confirmation. He just raised his eyebrows, looking for the same thing from Carter. "She's right, sir" his 2IC answered. "Okay" he said, "So we keep looking" "It sure would help if we knew what we were looking for," Sam commented, "Even just an idea" Jackie shrugged. "Wish I could tell you" she said. "Uh, Jackie?" Daniel's call grabbed their attention and they all turned to see him holding a small oval object suspended on a chain, "Could it be this?" Jackie's face lit up and she hopped over a small mountain of twisted, smoldering metal to get to him. He gave it up willingly as she held it up in front of her face. Everybody made their way over. Jack lowered his sunglasses and squinted at it. "I found it under this piece of metal" Daniel gestured to his feet, "Pretty much imbedded in the ground like a rock fossil" "What is it?" Jack inquired. "I have no idea" Jackie answered, her eyes still filled with delight. "It's a necklace" Carter supplied, and then shrugged at the "duh" looks she got from her companions. The object was indeed a necklace. The ornament was an oval, about three inches long and two inches wide. It looked like a perfect piece of turquoise set in a silver frame. It was suspended between two flat pieces of a coppery colored metal, each about an inch wide and engraved with small symbols. "I think this is writing" Daniel said, pointing to the symbols, "Jackie can you read that?" Jackie held the pieces closer to her face. "It's too small" she admitted with a small frown. "Do you know what it says?" Sam asked. "How would she know that, Major Carter?" Teal'c asked. "She seems to know a lot of other things" Sam replied. Teal'c nodded his acknowledgement. "So, how bout it, sis?" Jack asked. "It's instructions" Jackie answered, getting a kind of glazed look in her eyes that she tended to get when this new, alien information was making itself known. "Instructions to what?" Jack inquired. She shook her head. "I don't know" she replied. "Great" Jack said, "Well, now that we have Jackie's little toy, can we please go back to Earth?" "Yeah" Jackie replied happily, unclasping the necklace and starting to put it around her own neck. "Whoa!" Daniel reached out and stopped her, "What're you doing?" "Putting it on" Jackie answered, sounding confused. "Daniel?" Jack asked. "Jack, I just don't think she should be putting that on until we know what it does, or at least what it is" Daniel answered. "Oh, don't be ridiculous, Daniel" Jackie smiled and before anyone could stop her, she had clasped the necklace around her neck. As the oval fell against her chest, it lit up with an inner light and glowed brightly. A sudden force pushed out of it and through them all, causing some of the still standing trees behind them to snap and fall to the ground. Nobody was hurt, and in fact it hadn't felt like anything more than a strong wind. "What the hell was that?" Jack screamed as soon as it had passed. Jackie knew she was in for it. How many times had she heard that exact same tone in her childhood? Especially in the past two years. "Well, nobody's hurt, so let's just go back to Earth" she started walking, hopefully, past her older brother but he caught her by the arm. "We're not going anywhere until you take that thing off" he told her. Her eyes got big. She was still intimidated by her big brother, despite the fact that she was now twice as old as she had been a few days ago. "Okay!" she agreed and reached up to unclasp the necklace. "Hey, where's the clasp?" she asked, using her hands to search the back of her neck. It wasn't a chain, so it wasn't as if the clasp could slip down her throat. Sam got behind her and moved her hands away. "It's gone" she reported. "What?" Daniel joined her. "It's...melded into a solid ring around her neck, sir" Sam said. "How is that possible?" Teal'c asked. Sam just shook her head. "Great, just great, Jackie!" Jack muttered. "Hey! It's not like this is my fault! I didn't know it was going to get stuck there!" she yelled back at him. "Well why'd you have to go and put it on for in the first place?!" Jack yelled back. "I don't know!" Jackie replied, every bit as loud as he was, "I just did!" "Jack, this isn't helping" Daniel said calmly. "We should return to the SGC, O'Neill" Teal'c added. Jack and Jackie ignored them. "Maybe you shouldn't follow your impulses so wildly!" Jack lowered his voice but his tone was menacing enough to make up for it. "Maybe you shouldn't follow orders so blindly!" Jackie returned. Now the rest of SG-1 was slightly taken back by this. Jack usually did whatever he thought was best, orders or not. They were all aware that Jack and Jackie hadn't parted so well, and now they all wondered if this had been the argument between them. Overhead, a familiar whooshing sound passed over them. The three heads not involved in an old argument raised and saw what it was. "Uh, Jack" Daniel said, "Jackie?" The siblings turned to him with angry expressions. "What?" they demanded at the same time. Another death glider whooshed over head. Jackie looked up. "That sounded like a...." A blaze of yellow energy blasted away a piece of ground next to them and they all ducked for cover, what little of it there was. "They've made us!" Jack yelled. In the burnt part of the forest, they were sitting ducks. The mountains would make a lovely strong hold, but they were too far away, close as they were. They'd have to head for the forest, the part that was still alive. All of this ran through his head as he helped Jackie to her feet and pushed her in front of him. She started running toward the fresh forest, and Jack noted that she was running faster and more efficiently than he'd ever seen her run. Perhaps it was the necklace. 


	8. Pinned Down

The Colonel's Sister  
  
This story and all themes and ideas contained in said story are the sole ownership of J.L. Scott. Any copyright infringements can be prosecuted in a court of law.  
  
To borrow a phrase: Stargate SG-1 no mine......no money, no sue, please?  
  
"Head for the Gate!" Jack yelled as they ran from the ship and the preying death gliders. Ahead, between Teal'c and Carter, Jackie tripped on a branch and fell to the ground. Carter paused to help her up and they continued their mad dash for the open field. Jack could only pray they wouldn't be picked off out in the open, before someone could dial the gate.  
  
They were reaching the edge of the field when they heard the tell tale sounds of the gate locking in and opening. They skidded to a stop in the grass and waited to see who would come walking through the watery event horizon.  
The Jaffa came out shooting. Death in the form of yellow energy lanced out at them, splintering trees behind them and scorching the grass in front of Earth's team.  
"Fall back!" Jack yelled, wondering where the hell they could hide now. The Jaffa continued to pour through the gate, firing in their direction, and getting closer with every shot. Daniel and Jackie were already in the modest cover of the forest while Teal'c, Carter and himself returned fire, striking the occasional Jaffa. But for every enemy that fell, another three emerged from the gate. Staff weapon fire blew chunks from the world around them, blowing dirt and wood at them from above and below.  
"Jack!" Jackie yelled at him and he took the chance to turn his head enough to glance at her out of the corners of his eyes. She was pointing to something large and gray, half hidden behind trees.  
"It's the size of a house!" his sister alerted him. Large enough to protect their backs, so they only had to worry about defending from one side.  
"Go!" He ordered, nodding at Teal'c to get going. Daniel may be a decent shot, and Jackie may think strategically, but they still needed protection.  
"Carter, set some claymores" He pulled the two he had out and tried to find the best place to put them. Carter was following suit when some lucky Jaffa hit a precarious branch in the tree she was working under. She didn't have any time to get out of the way before it came crashing down on her. It landed square on her back, pushing her into the ground.  
"Carter!" Jack scurried over other fallen branches and knelt beside her.  
"Carter !" he shook her. Her eyes were open and there was pain on her face. Her breathing was halting and she cringed with every breath. Jack leaned into the branch and tried to push it off of her. It was almost too heavy, but he managed to flip it off.  
"Carter, you okay?" he asked as he helped her turn over. She cried out with the pain.  
"I think I broke some ribs, sir" she answered.  
"Can you walk?" he asked. Carter cringed with the effort of drawing oxygen into her lungs.  
"I don't think so" she answered. Jack got a determined look on his face as he let his gun hang on its strap and slipped one arm under her knees and another under her neck. She wound her arms around his neck and suppressed another cry.  
"Hold on" he told her and then got to his feet. He puffed just a bit as he made for whatever protection his sister may have found.  
"What happened?" Daniel cried as they came into view. Jack let Carter slip from his arms and onto the ground as gently as he could. Jackie had been right, the boulder was the size of a house. There were smaller chunks which looked as if they'd fallen or been blown off littering the area immediately surrounding it, and the ground sloped down towards its base, just a bit. Wonderfully defendable.  
"A tree branch fell on her" Jack answered, "She's probably got a few broken ribs." He crouched down by Teal'c, who was spying out from behind a chunk of boulder.  
"The firing has ceased" the ex-Jaffa reported, "We have not seen any Jaffa near here"  
"Think we lost them?" Jack asked. Teal'c merely raised a brow.  
"Jack?" The Colonel turned his head. Jackie was crouched on the ground behind him, worry and fear clear in her expression. She looked so damn young. He was supposed to be keeping her safe, dammit! Why did he keep leading her right into danger?  
"Just...stay with Carter" her told her. She swallowed but nodded. No matter what those damn Ferlings had put into her head, there was nothing in her 20 years that could have prepared her for being smack dab in the middle of a battle, with Jaffa or with anyone at all. He fervently wished he could spare her the experience, but there was nothing he could do now.  
"Damn it" he muttered under his breath. Daniel joined them, looking at his friend for orders on what to do next.  
"There are too many to fight, O'Neill" Teal'c said, "They will have the Stargate heavily defended"  
"So what are we supposed to do?" Daniel asked. There were sometimes that Jack wished he wasn't the one in charge.  
"We'll wait until nightfall" he said, "See if we can get to it then" Teal'c nodded. Together the three men planted the rest of their claymores in a half circle around their hideout. Jack checked all of their clips and figured how much ammo they had.  
They burrowed into their little niche. The hours passed. A couple of times some Jaffa came close, but they passed right by and the humans sighed in relief, spared battle for the time being. Carter developed a cough. Jackie forced her to drink some water and eat some of the rations they had. Dusk fell on them quickly, but then it lingered without passing into night. All they could do was wait.  
About an hour after dusk had set in, they could hear the faint sounds of the Stargate opening again. There was no way for them to tell what was going on, so they just waited quietly, inwardly preparing to start shooting.  
"Colonel O'Neill, this is Hammond! Report!" the familiar voice sounded over their comms.  
"This is O'Neill" Jack replied, "Sir, we're pinned down. There are Jaffa everywhere"  
"Did your sister find what she was looking for?" Hammond asked.  
"Uh, yes sir. It's a necklace thingy, Daniel and Carter think it's something else. Sir, we don't have a way to get back to the gate" He sucked in a deep breath as he admitted the last. He hated saying that.  
"I'll send reinforcements" Hammond said.  
"That would be unwise, General Hammond" Teal'c piped up, "They will be captured or killed as they emerge from the stargate"  
"What should I do, Colonel?" the General inquired.  
"Nothing, sir" Jack reported with another sigh. There was a pause before Hammond replied.  
"Understood. We'll keep the door open, SG-1. Hammond out" And with that they could hear the gate close down. The dusk seemed a bit darker, and Jack hoped night would fall quicker now. He was still surprised there hadn't been more Jaffa search parties out looking for them, but he guessed a lot of them must've been employed in the search for whatever it was hanging from his little sister's throat at the moment. He scrambled over to where Carter was laying.  
"How you doin'?" he asked. She coughed. Daniel looked at the ground.  
"We need to get her to the infirmary" he said.  
"We're working on it" Jack answered, "Hang in there Carter" She nodded at him. Jackie was sitting with her back to the boulder. He slid down beside her. She was staring at Carter.  
"She's getting worse" she said.  
"She'll be fine" Jack replied, "Carter's stronger than she looks" Jackie shook her head.  
"It's all my fault" she said, "You shouldn't have brought me"  
"And let the Goa'uld get their hands on...whatever that is" He touched the stone on her chest.  
"I should've come by myself" she continued, "You're all stuck here because of me"  
"First of all, I never would have let you come by yourself, none of us would have" Jack said firmly, "And second of all, I thought you were supposed to be reading our mission reports. We get out of this kind of stuff all of the time" Jackie looked far from convinced.  
"Look, kid..."  
"Jack," Jackie looked completely forlorn, "I'm not a kid anymore" Her brother's lip twitched. That had been the other part. He was never around, and when he was he treated her like some empty headed kid. He hadn't wanted to admit that she was growing up, growing away. From him. Kids were supposed to grow away from their parents, not their siblings. He hadn't meant to become her father.  
"I know" he said, "I know you're not" Carter coughed, rather loudly.  
  
"Jack?" Daniel called to him. The O'Neill's joined him. Teal'c turned his head to watch from his sentinel position.  
"She's getting worse" Daniel whispered. Carter's eyes were closed. She was paler than she had any right to be, even in the darkness, and there was a thin sheet of perspiration on her forehead. There was nothing he could do for her, and it was killing him.  
"Move" He was suddenly pushed to the side by his sister. She knelt beside Carter and put her hands out over her chest.  
"What are you doing?" Daniel asked.  
"Be quiet" Jackie replied. Her eyes glazed over and her brow creased. The stone on her chest began to glow, just the way it had when she'd first put it on.  
"Jackie...what are you doing?" Jack asked, but she didn't respond. She just stared straight ahead, with her hands hovering over Carter's chest, and that stone on her neck glowing. They all waited. Her hands started shaking, and then began glowing with the same blue light as the stone. The light fell from her hands and into Carter's chest. Nobody said anything. In fact, the entire forest seemed to go silent. And then her hands returned to normal and she fell back onto her rear, breathing deeply and looking sleepy. Carter's eyes opened and she sat up. 


	9. A Second Death

The Colonel's Sister  
  
This story and all themes and ideas contained in said story are the sole ownership of J.L. Scott. Any copyright infringements can be prosecuted in a court of law.  
  
To borrow a phrase: Stargate SG-1 no mine......no money, no sue, please?  
  
Daniel's eyes widened and Teal'c's head tilted.  
"The pain's gone" Sam reported, turning her gaze to Jackie, "What did you do?" Jackie was fumbling with her canteen, but her hands were still shaking and she couldn't unscrew the cap. Jack yanked it from her hands and did it for her.  
"You're not healed" she told Carter after she'd taken a few sips. She stopped shaking but still looked like she might fall asleep at any second. The darkness was closing in fast now, and Jack estimated they'd only have to wait maybe another hour before they could move. Whatever she'd just done, he hoped it hadn't left her too weak to walk.  
"It's just...a sort of cast...I think" she added.  
"The necklace did that?" Daniel asked. Jackie shook her head.  
"No. No, I did that" the younger O'Neill answered.  
"What is that thing?" Jack demanded, though he knew it was probably a useless demand.  
"I think it amplifies the psychic powers of the wearer" Jackie answered.  
"Like a booster" Carter nodded. She looked much better, as far as he could tell in the impending dark.  
"What?" Jack asked.  
"Human brain waves can be amplified, just like radio waves or light waves" Carter tried to explain, "If that device amplifies certain brain waves enough, it may allow the wearer to wield any number of powers. We only use ten percent of our brain power. Who knows what the other ninety percent may be able to do, sir"  
"And Jackie's supposed to protect it, is that it?" Jack asked.  
"It makes sense, Jack" Daniel said, "They gave her all of the knowledge she would need to protect it, and apparently, to use it" Jack gave him a look, "If necessary" Daniel quickly added.  
"The only thing that doesn't make sense is why they would pick a human to protect it" Carter said, "And a human from Earth"  
"And why is that, Major Carter?" Teal'c asked.  
"Well, there are other races out there that would probably have been better equipped to protect it. The Tollan or the Nox, the Asgard, even the Tok'ra. Why'd they pick Jackie?"  
"Human physiology is easily manipulated by those with higher technology" Teal'c offered, "And they adapt well under many conditions. It is the reason the Goa'uld chose them as a host race"  
"And the inscription on her escape pod also mentioned 'blood of Warrior blood'" Daniel added, "Maybe they thought that because Jack was a warrior, Jackie would be too"  
"But why Earth?" Sam asked.  
"Home world?" Jack suggested. Carter and Daniel exchanged a look.  
"That could be, sir" Sam admitted. Jack was always pleased when he'd contributed something worth while, but at the moment he was more worried about how a new alien technology was affecting his sister. She'd fallen asleep, leaning against his shoulder, while they spoke.  
"We should move, O'Neill" Teal'c said. Jack shook Jackie.  
"Hey, wake up" he resisted the urge to add "kid" to the end of that order. Jackie opened her eyes. She still looked tired, but not nearly as much so as she had just a few moments ago.  
"We gotta move" He helped her to her feet and watched as Daniel helped Carter to hers.  
"You gonna be okay?" he asked Sam. She nodded back.  
"I can't feel anything" she said.  
"What about you?" Jack turned on his sister, "You look like you're about to fall off your feet"  
"I'll make it" she assured him.  
"All right, campers, let's go" Jack took point and led them away from their stronghold. About twenty feet away, he stopped and pulled something out of one of his vest pockets. The claymores exploded, and they started running toward the west. Jack figured most of the Jaffa would be at the crash site, off to the east, and the rest would be guarding the gate, so running west was the best idea. They'd circle the Jaffa and hopefully get to the gate without having to blast their way through.  
The plan seemed to be working. They hadn't run into any Jaffa at all, though they could hear them yelling to each other, their metal uniforms clanking as they ran around, closing in on where SG-1 no longer was.  
They all slowed as they reached the edge of the forest. They lowered themselves so that their heads were just poking over the top of the three foot high grass and flowers.  
"Shit" Jack whispered as he saw what lay spread out between them and the gate.  
"Oh my god. Sir, we'll never make it to the gate undetected" Carter said next to him. He felt like saying something sarcastic, but there was a time and a place. The Jaffa were obviously planning on being on the planet for a while. They'd made camp around the stargate, using it as a centerpiece. There were patrols around the perimeter of the camp and around the gate. Carter was right, they'd never make it. Their little diversion was just that: little.  
"What if we crawl through the grass, at least to the edge of the camp?" Daniel asked quietly.  
"They would see the grass moving, Daniel Jackson" Teal'c answered. There was no way to get there without some kind of drastic, probably suicidal, plan.  
Jackie was up and walking into the grass before anyone could stop her. She was a dark silhouette against the light from the camp.  
"Jackie!" Jack hissed at her, "Get back here!" His sister did not do his bidding. The Jaffa had seen her. They were shouting and Jack could see them pointing towards them. The perimeter guards had their staff weapons pointed, but they weren't shooting. SG-1 was slightly confused. Jackie stopped and turned back. The stone on her chest was glowing brightly, illuminating her face in a soft blue light. No wonder the Jaffa had hesitated to fire. She looked like a goddess.  
"Come on" she commanded them, and all four of them rose to their feet to follow.  
The sight of the enemies from Earth, however, relieved the Jaffa of their hesitancy. They began shooting immediately. The yellow beams seemed to bounce off the air and away from the Earthly delegation.  
"Jackie, what're you doing?" Jack hissed, his gun raised and ready to fire.  
"Just...keep...walking" Jackie instructed him. SG-1 was clustered behind her, making use of the protection she was apparently providing. They drew closer to the camp and the yellow beams started getting closer to them. Too close for comfort, although the stone was glowing just as brightly as it had been a few meters back. SG-1 was returning fire now, and nobody had time to wonder about Jackie's strange ability or how she was planning on getting them to the gate through an entire Jaffa encampment. Jaffa horns were blowing, calling for aid from their friends investigating in the forest and at the crash site. Jack knew they would come pouring out of the forest behind them as they continued to move closer to the camp. Suddenly, Jackie stopped in front of them.  
"What are you doing now?" Jack demanded. Jackie didn't answer, and even if she had he probably wouldn't have heard it. He was still busy trying to shoot Jaffa down. They weren't close enough to see the marks on their foreheads, and they hadn't seen any of them wearing the definitive head gear they boasted, so they had no idea who they were fighting or which system lord was after the Ferling technology.  
A ripple, just like the one that had emanated from the stone when Jackie had first put the necklace on, rolled away from them. Jack stopped firing. So did Teal'c and Carter. The ripple moved quickly, and unlike before, it razed down the Jaffa as easily as it blew their tents over and extinguished their fires. The enemy men fell to their knees, or were knocked on their backs. Jack didn't take the time to question what had just happened, he just took advantage of it.  
"Run!" he ordered and their group took off, a blue glow shooting through the evil camp toward a ring of salvation. They could hear the Jaffa reinforcements coming as they came up to the DHD. Daniel got there first and hit the right symbols, opening the gate to home. They were headed up the few steps when Jack stopped.  
"Where's Jackie?" he shouted. They all stopped and turned back, their eyes skimming the fallen tents, looking for any sign of their missing member. She came staggering slowly past the last of them, into the circular clearing around the gate. The blue light faded and she fell to her own knees as it extinguished.  
"Go!" Jack shouted at his friends, "I'll get her!" He raced down the steps as the rest of his team disappeared through the blue surface of the wormhole. Jackie was dragging herself to her feet as he reached her. Jack said nothing as he bent under her arm to help her drag herself to salvation. The yellow beam of a staff weapon seared the air above them, and another scorched the ground at their feet.  
"Go Jack" Jackie whispered, "Go"  
"I'm not leaving you" Jack answered, dragging her more than anything now, "I'm not losing you again!" His words seemed to inspire her for she found strength from somewhere, putting weight on her own legs. They hurried toward gate, Jaffa coming at them from everywhere. They made it to the steps just as it closed.  
"Damn it!" Jack yelled. He left Jackie at the stairs and ran back to DHD, punching the symbols, the Jaffa getting closer every second. The gate turned and locked. Jackie moved away to escape the splash it made as it opened.  
"Come on!" Jack yelled at her as he rushed up the stairs. She hurried to follow. Jack turned to look where he was going, secure in the knowledge that she would be safe in a few seconds, until he heard the sound of staff weapon energy ripping through human flesh. He turned around. There was a charred circle in the middle of her chest.  
"Jack?" She looked down at the wound and her eyes grew round. She started to fall forward and Jack stepped back to catch her. He wanted to curse the universe, he wanted to stay and kill every single Jaffa there with his own hands, but instead he pulled the nearly dead body of his sister through the gate. 


	10. Lucky Chance Number Three

The Colonel's Sister  
  
This story and all themes and ideas contained in said story are the sole ownership of J.L. Scott. Any copyright infringements can be prosecuted in a court of law.  
  
To borrow a phrase: Stargate SG-1 no mine......no money, no sue, please?  
  
Daniel, Sam and Teal'c were all standing at the bottom of the ramp with General Hammond, waiting for them to come through the gate. Janet and her medical team were just rushing in with all of their equipment. Jack didn't notice any of it. He was kneeling on the ramp, Jackie in his lap, laboriously drawing breath. Her blood was soaking Jack's pants, her arms were splayed at an odd angle and the light in her eyes was fading slowly away.  
"Jack?" she whispered. Janet and her nurses were trying to crowd around them, trying to pull her out of his arms, but he wouldn't let her go.  
"I'm sorry, so...sorry...Jack..." she said, a little trickle of blood falling from the corner of her mouth.  
"You hang in there!" Jack ordered, "Don't you die on me, Jackie O'Neill, don't you dare" Her eyelids started drooping over her green eyes, green eyes he would never forget again.  
"Jackie!" He couldn't stop his voice from cracking. She took one more breath.  
"I'll...miss...you..." Her voice faded away and her eyes closed. She went limp in his arms. Jack couldn't cry. He couldn't speak. His face lost all expression as he stared at her dead face cradled in his hands. The people around him backed off, down the ramp. Janet took her wrist and checked for a pulse. But Jack already knew. He had felt her slip away, beyond his grasp, where he couldn't follow, where he couldn't protect her. He'd failed yet again.  
"I'm sorry, sir" Janet said quietly, and then she too stood and walked down the ramp. His friends stood watching, silently, below him. Nobody could move, nobody could make a sound. Nobody would try to go take the body from him. He just knelt there, staring at her, willing her to live again.  
"Look" Daniel said quietly. Jack's gaze shifted from his sister's face to the damn stone that lay, unhurt, on her charred chest. It was glowing. The bright glow grew and spread it's light downward. Jack could feel it, could feel its power, and he directed it toward the mess in her chest. Everyone else was staring, amazement and trepidation on their faces, as his eyes closed. He forced the blue light into her, forced it to heal. And it did his bidding. New flesh grew over the destroyed parts, the arteries and veins mended, her lungs inflated as she drew breath again, and her heart began to beat. And still he forced more through her, more, until her skin itself grew over the hole, leaving only the blood on his pants and the hole in her t-shirt as evidence that she'd ever been shot.  
Her eyes opened and her head lifted. The blue light vanished and Jack had to let her tumble out of his embrace, the energy to hold her used up. Janet and her medics raced up the ramp again, checking the siblings over.  
"She's alive!" Janet yelled, surprise and joy filling her.  
"Jack?" Jackie rasped. They were lying side by side on their backs while the medics transferred them to gurneys. Her hand sought his and found it.  
"You owe me, little sister" Jack muttered, and Jackie smiled.  
  
Some time later...  
  
"Hey, Colonel, how's Jackie doing?" Sam asked as they stepped off the elevator.  
"Oh, she's back to her old annoying self" Jack answered with a smile. She'd been laid up in the infirmary for a couple days after the incident, but Janet had said the Ferling device had done most of the healing. Jack let them believe that it had acted on its own. He hadn't been able to fool Jackie though.  
"You used it" she had rasped as soon as Janet had let him out of bed.  
  
"Guess I did" he had answered. She had merely smiled at him.  
"She got her own apartment. In Daniel's building actually" he added.  
"Really? She decide what she wants to do yet?" Sam asked.  
"She wants to finish her degree" Jack answered, "She was in her junior year before"  
"What's she study?" Sam asked as they turned a corner.  
"Communications" Jack answered, "Expert in cryptology, actually"  
"Really?" Sam raised her eye brows, "We could use her around here" They were in Jack's office now. He pulled a picture frame out of his pocket and set it on his desk. Jackie smiled back at him through the plate of glass.  
"Yes, we could" 


End file.
